Fuel Management

Winter Could See Fuel Prices Rise Again

December 1, 2005
• by Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. --- Though gasoline prices have dropped dramatically over the past several weeks, crude oil pricing shifts could reverse that trend within a few weeks, according to the Energy Department.
Gasoline prices may continue to fall a little more over the next week or two, but subsequent pricing will be influenced by the trend in crude oil prices, the department's Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are plentiful today, but that could change with the arrival of winter and ongoing refinery efforts to ramp up distillate fuel production for current needs and next year's peak driving season.
Crude oil inventories could fall as refineries continue to increase throughput, unless imports average well above 10 million barrels per day, the EIA said.
The Minerals Management Service reported that, as of Nov. 29, more than 564,000 barrels per day of offshore crude oil production remains shut-in. It may be months before the bulk of this shut-in production can come back on line. Some of the production reportedly is not coming back online until mid-2006.
"EIA data for last week indicates that U.S. crude oil production averaged less than 4.8 million barrels per day, and it is likely to remain well below 5 million barrels per day for many weeks, if not months, to come," the EIA said.

Fuel Management

The multiple-year agreement specifies that WEX will provide Marathon Petroleum Corp. with sales and marketing resources to further drive Marathon’s retail growth. It follows an initial five-year deal between the companies.

The cost of gasoline has been on the rise this year. These higher gas prices could pose a direct threat to a fleet’s overall costs. Implementing technologies and considering alternative fuel vehicles could help curb costs.

ARI and WEX, Inc. are celebrating their long-running relationship with co-branded fuel cards for fleet customers of the fleet management company, the payments solution provider announced. The companies have been in business together for 25 years.

The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded fell two cents to $2.95 for the week ending June 4 during a week that saw the first price decline since the middle of March, according to AAA. The decline followed a slight dip in oil consumption from a year ago.

WEX, Inc. has struck an agreement with the holding company of Shell Oil Products to issue Shell-branded fuel payment cards to commercial fleets starting later this summer, the Portland, Maine-based payment provider has announced.

The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded jumped 12 cents to $2.93 over the past two weeks, ahead of the Memorial Day holiday and reaching the highest level for this holiday weekend in four years, according to AAA.

Fleetcor Technologies, Inc. will test blockchain technology as a way to modernize payments for its commercial fleet clients, especially across international borders, as part of a new initiative with Ripple, which has expertise in the technology, according to the company.

The national average gasoline price moved sharply higher for the week ending May 14, following the Trump administration's decision to withdrawal from an Obama-era nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on the country.